英美文学复习笔记整理

英国部分

The Renaissance Period

1. Renaissance :between 14th and mid-17th century.

2. Renaissance means rebirth or revival, is actually a movement stimulated by a series of historical events, such as the rediscovery

of ancient Roman and Greek culture, the new discoveries in geography and astrology, the religious reformation and the economic expansion.

3. the Renaissance, therefore in essence is a historical period in

which the European humanist thinkers and Scholars made attempt to get rid of those old feudalist ideas in Medieval Europe, to

introduce new ideas that expressed the purity of the rising

bourgeoisie, and to recover the purity of the early church from the corruption of the Roman Catholic church.

4. Humanism is the essence of the Renaissance

(1) Capable of individual development in the direction of

perfection.

(2) They inhabited was theirs not to despise by to question, explore and enjoy.

(3) By emphasizing the dignity of human being and the Importance of the present life, they voiced their beliefs that man did not only have the right to enjoy the beauty of this life

(4) Tomas More, Christopher Marlow and William Shakespeare are the best representative of the English humanist.

5 Metaphysical poetry: Metaphysical is characterized by passionate thought succession of concentrated image, exercise of elaborate